Disgraced and disbarred former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani’s shameless attempt to hide his possessions, including Lauren Bacall’s Mercedes, from the court may have backfired, as he was ordered to appear in court and threatened with contempt if he fails to comply. U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman has now told Giuliani that he has to demonstrate a real effort to turn over his property by next week, Reuters reports.
“He’s not going to be in contempt if he’s made efforts and it’s impossible to comply with the order, but that’s the standard that he’s going to be held to,” Liman told the court. He’s probably being a little more generous than he would if someone else was blatantly trying to hide money and property from the court, but it’s also far from unfair. Maybe Rudy can’t get absolutely everything into Freeman and Moss’s possession in seven days, but he should at least be able to show he’s trying to make that happen. Unless he just has no intention of complying and plans to force the judge to do his worst.
Giuliani currently owes the two election workers who he defamed repeatedly $148 million. Since he didn’t have that much cash on hand, the judge ordered him to turn over a long list of possessions including an R107 Mercedes-Benz 500SL previously owned by legendary actor Lauren Bacall. Instead of complying with the judge’s order, Giuliani reportedly hid his valuables in various locations, including what appears to be a far-right storage warehouse.
He didn’t even really bother to hide what he was doing, even going as far as to show up to vote in the missing Mercedes this week. He may have been gambling on a Trump victory helping him avoid facing any real accountability, and it’s entirely possible that may still happen. Until Trump is sworn in, though, Judge Liman is still in charge, and it’s clear his patience with this rat fucker is clearly running out, especially as Giuliani appears to be using new bank accounts and LLCs to hide his money. If he doesn’t want to follow the judge’s order, let’s cross our fingers the consequences of ignoring it change his mind.